Estádio Dr. João Cláudio Vasconcelos Machado, usually known as Machadão, was a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

in the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian city of

Natal, Rio Grande do Norte Natal ( ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, located in northeastern Brazil. According to IBGE's 2021 estimate, the city had a total population o896,708 making it the 19th largest city in the country. Natal is a ...

. It was mostly used for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

matches. Estádio Machadão was owned by the Natal City Hall. The stadium was named after João Cláudio Vasconcelos Machado, who was the president of the Rio Grande do Norte Football Federation and a sports broadcaster. Estádio Machadão (along with the Ginasio do Machadindo) was demolished at the end of 2011 to make room for the construction of the

Arena das Dunas The Arena das Dunas (" Dunes Arena") is a football stadium in Natal, Brazil. The arena can shelter 31,375 spectators, and was designed by sports architect Christopher Lee of Populous. The stadium hosted football matches for the 2014 FIFA World ...

for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Capacity

The stadium had an initial maximum capacity of 55,000 people. This was reduced to 51,000 for security reasons, then to 42,000, when renovated in 2007.

History

In 1972, the works on Machadão were completed. The inaugural match was played on July 4 of that year, when

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

beat

América de Natal The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

1–0. The first goal of the stadium was scored by ABC's Willian. The stadium's attendance record was 53,320, set on November 29, 1972 when Santos beat ABC 2–0. The stadium was renovated in 2007. The reinaugural match was played on May 13, 2007. Vasco beat América de Natal 1–0; the first goal was scored by André Dias. Upon the selection of

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

to be a host city of the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

, the government decided that the construction of a new stadium was necessary. In 2011, the Machadão was demolished. A new stadium called

was constructed. Demolição do Machadão está concluida
(retrieved on August 3, 2007)

References

Websites

Books

*''Enciclopédia do Futebol Brasileiro'', Volume 2 - Lance, Rio de Janeiro: Aretê Editorial S/A, 2001.

External links

Football venues in Rio Grande do Norte Sports venues in Rio Grande do Norte Multi-purpose stadiums in Brazil {{Brazil-sports-venue-stub